Why are you a Democrat? Why are you a Republican? The two parties have launched dueling You Tube contests encouraging their party faithful to explain why they support the party. Click on the party logos to go to the respective You Tube contest sites.

	http://youtube.com/demconvention
	http://www.youtube.com/gopconvention2008

We're not sure if the timing of these contests is coincidence or reaction... but one of the more viral videos on You Tube these days is a satirical video called "I'm voting Republican". I can guarantee it will NOT be shown at the RNC.

Also... if you're into this kind of video propaganda from either party or their surrogates, check out our new page "Party Propaganda". It includes fact check information from factcheck.org as well as our own analysis.

This post written by The UpTake's Senior Political Correspondent Noah Kunin

2008-07-11 10:53AM
McCain's intro to the townhall took longer then usual.  Finally into questions. McCain answers a question on how he expects to convince more citizens to allow for additional nuclear power plants (Answer: Americans are smart and will see the wisdom of carbon-free power).  A voter asks two questions: one on Vice President Cheney spiking testimony on climate change and a question on 1/5 of Guantanmo prisoners going free.  McCain uses the first question to try and convince some in the audience that climate change is real (to some infrequent boos).  He feins ignorance on the Cheney issue but says that he has been concerned about climate change testimony for several years.

2008-07-11 10:06AM
Reviewing McCain's record on women's issue there seems to be a degree of "tone deafness" in his responses even on relatively non controversial issues.  McCain was asked why he missed the vote for the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.  Here is what he said:

APRIL 23

“They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else,” McCain said. “And it’s hard for them to leave their families when they don’t have somebody to take care of them.

MAY 7

McCain singled out a 14-year old woman who questioned why he opposes eliminating the statute of limitations on lawsuits over workplace discrimination, arguing it amounted to opposing “equal rights for women.”

“If you eliminate the statutes of limitations, and you make it unending, you may be violating the rights of the individuals who are being sued, whether they’re a man or a woman,” the senator responded. “I don’t think you’re doing anything to help the rights of women, except maybe help trial lawyers and others in that profession.”

Leaving McCain's argument regarding the statute of limitations aside (see a good rebuttal of that point here at WaPo) McCain's response on April 23rd was the right answer to the wrong question. Pay disparity is not the same as the education gap. The problem is that two individuals are working the same job, the same hours at the same quality of work and are being paid different amounts as a result of gender.  According the Census Bureau women were being paid 77 cents on the dollar as compared to men in 2007!  Women need to know that in the 21st century an investment in "education and training" will pay the same benefits to them as an identically qualified man.

2008-07-11 10:01AM
I'm here in Hudson, WI with our Executive Correspondent Chuck Olsen covering a McCain town hall event.  This town hall will focus on jobs and women's issues.  Usually The UpTake would do a live stream and coverage of this type event using some combination of Mogulus and CoverItLive (two fantastic tools for citizen journalists).  We've decided to forego the bleeding edge technology, if for only one day, in order to listen more closely to what Sen. McCain says to this crowd.  Watch this space for a slow live-blog of the event.  We wlil post some edited video later on.

The press wants a three-way Senate race in Minnesota so badly they are starting to see messages in tea leaves, chicken entrails and smoky crystal balls. The prognostication on whether former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura would enter the race reached fever pitch this morning when NPR ran a story with this exchange: (emphasis added)

"He [Ventura] still insists he won't announce whether he's running until next Tuesday, the deadline in Minnesota, but when I tell him his rivals think he's simply trying to promote his latest book, Ventura seems to reveal his true intentions. He angrily says he is running, primarily because of Coleman's votes on the Iraq War, which Ventura vehemently opposes. "That's the reason I run, not to sell books. I run because it angers me." And here's Ventura again sounding as if he's already made up his mind. "And all you Minnesotans, take a good hard look at all three of us, and you decide if you were in a dark alley, which one of the three of us would you want with you?"

Notably, NPR did not run the story with the headline "Ventura confirms Senate run" they went with the slightly less internet breaking but more confusing "GOP Senator in Minnesota Faces Colorful Challengers". Is Senator Coleman facing more than one (credible) challenger or not? At 9:20am ABC Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper decided he would make NPR's mind up for them with the headline: "Jesse Ventura to Run for Senate"

At which point the foot shooting began in earnest! Both indepedent and legacy media were caught up in the misfire (see the full list below).

The UpTake, while citizen run, maintains a vigourous editorial review process and actually listened to the entire NPR audio story in full. We commented thusly:

Hedged to the brink to be certain but accurate as we could make it based on the facts. At 9:58am Ventura spoke with the AP to explain that reports of his untimely campaign confirmation had been greatly exaggerated. ABC changed their headline in response:

Subtle but key difference. That's why all I learned about journalism comes from The X-Files. Trust no one.

More media that wrote the story apparently before listening to the interview
Minnesota Independent & TC Daily Planet

Minneapolis Met Blogs

Comedy Central

Washington Post

This post written by The UpTake's Senior Political Correspondent Noah Kunin

There are a several dates we can point to for the birth of The UpTake. We first met to discuss doing this in early 2007. July 2007 is the month that we launched this website with our first video post and it also happens to be the birth month of our nation. The UpTake also has its roots in the Declaration of Independence. So July is a fitting month to celebrate our birthday as well.

In a year's time we've accomplished a lot. We've covered nearly every Presidential caucus and primary from coast-to-coast, often doing so with LIVE streaming video. We're regularly featured on You Tube's political page. We've racked up a total of about two million video views on Blip and You Tube. We've been profiled in many legacy media stories.including being named "Best Citizen Media Outlet" by City Pages. We're constantly training more volunteer video citizen jounalists.

Most importantly, we've established that average folks can work together to cover the news with video-the most believable medium around- and do so with an editorial review process that is accurate, fair and truthful. Sort of a mix of the best of new media abilities and old journalism standards and ethics.

But we wouldn't have done so without your help. Whether you're a volunteer, a donor, or a viewer/reader of our work, what we do would not happen without your constant support. Thank you for mothering us through our first year.

Big things are in store for our next year. Live coverage of the national political conventions in Denver and St. Paul using some really cool technology that's never been done before will be one of the highlights. We're working on ways that video coverage from citizens can be picked up by the legacy media. Stay tuned for more on that!

Mike McIntee
Executive Producer

The UpTake (http://theuptake.org ) is looking for an individual who is committed to helping an emerging citizen-fueled news gathering organization focus on providing coverage on the 2008 political campaign and beyond.

Fed up with "reporting by press release" by the mainstream media?  Want to be part of the solution? 

We're looking for a passionate volunteer recruiter and manager looking to work in a low-overhead, light supervision environment.  The UpTake is a movement and we need a committed staff to grow and strengthen our organization.

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

Recruit, manage and inspire a volunteer army of citizen journalists. 

The UpTake is a collaborative organization with highly skilled core team of hard-working and fun individuals.  You will work with 4-5 members of our core team.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
-Develop and implement volunteer recruitment plan
-Assist in training volunteers
-Oversee and coordinate volunteers, build and support leaders in volunteer base
-Maintain communications between core UpTake staff and volunteer base
-Give constructive feedback to both UpTake staff and volunteers

REQUIREMENTS:
-proficient and comfortable with basic tech: email, instant messaging, video conferencing, social networking tools etc.
-we almost exclusively run Mac OS X.  If you are not familiar please be a fast learner.
-passion, belief in our movement of reclaiming the media for the health of our democracy
-some journalistic training a definite plus

QUALIFICATIONS:
-Self-starter, work independent of "top down" direction
-Detail oriented, ability to meet deadlines
-Excellent oral and written communication skills
-Self effacing sense of humor

Previous experience with grassroots organizations and online organizing desired.  Experience with, video editing software and other computer graphic tools a huge plus


Contact:
Jason Barnett - Executive Director
jason.barnett (at) theuptake.org
Phone: (651) 224-2479

Over the next few days I'm focusing on ways we can make this whole video coverage thing easier to do. The biggest barrier facing anyone wanting to do video citizen journalism is usually a technical one. How do I capture the video with my camera and then get it on to the internet? Any article about doing this can easily de-evolve into tech speak.

Luckily the Knight Citizen News Network has put together a tutorial that covers this without going deep into geek speak. If you understand what a video camera and a computer are, but don't know what firewire and video codecs are.... this is the tutorial for you. It's part of a series of learning modules KCCN has done for citizen journalists. Even if you're an experienced reporter, there's some tips you can pick up here.

Cross posted from the TimeScape Media Forums

Automatic video cameras are great. But they're not as smart as they should be. Otherwise they'd yell at you if you were shooting someone with a background twice as bright as the light on the person's face.

Until they make 'em that smart, you'll just need to remember to do a few simple things.

1) Zoom in on your subject and lock your focus. When you've got a set shot the camera doesn't always know what you want to focus on. So the auto focus sometimes will bounce between you subject and something in the background. You may not notice when looking into a small viewfinder, but when the video is big enough for all to see it looks like your video is wacky.

2)While you're close up on a face locking your focus, lock your exposure too. There's nothing worse than trying to pick out someone's face when it looks like a black blob against a very bright background.

3) Use a microphone. Yes, camera mics are getting better... but they still pick up a lot of extra noise you don't want and not enough of the noise you do want. Audio is more than half of the video experience (try watching a video with the sound turned off and you'll see what I mean).

City Pages is recognizing what you've known for some time. In its annual best of the Twin Cities issue, City Pages named The UpTake as the Best Citizen Based Media Outlet.

Read more about it here.

We're flattered and want to share the credit.
Several names get mentioned in the article, but The UpTake is much more than the few people mentioned. We're a growing community of citizen journalists and supporters of citizen journalism. Everyone who has contributed video, text, time, comments or just moral support helped us win this. So this is an award, not for an organization as much as it is for a community and a movement.

Thank you City Pages... and Minnesota Monitor which wrote:

"Best citizen-based media outlet: Duh. The UpTake."

As one of the relatively new kids on the block it's nice to know you really like us.

Minneapolis, June 25, 2008—Participate in activities surrounding this year’s Republican National Convention (RNC) and voice your opinion about today’s democratic process by submitting a video for I Approve this Message, (theunconvention.com/iapprove) a project of The UnConvention produced by the Walker Art Center (walkerart.org) and The UpTake (theuptake.org).

Participants are invited to create short videos (maximum length two minutes) in response to the scripted nature of presidential nominations, political party conventions, and democracy in general.

Entries ranging in opinion and vision, humor and insight are encouraged. Tag entries “iapprovethismessage2008” on YouTube and be a part of citizen-driven journalism. Workshops to learn videography, editing, and uploading will take place Thursdays, July 10 and August 7, and Saturday, August 16 (details follow).

Partners and Community Involvement
I Approve this Message is a project of The UnConvention and is produced by the Walker Art Center (walkerart.org), a multidisciplinary contemporary arts center in Minneapolis, and The UpTake (theuptake.org), a media and technology services organization dedicated to advancing democracy
through citizen journalism. Partnering organizations include mnartists.org, The Twin Cities Media Alliance, Minnesota Television Network (MTN), Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and St. Paul Neighborhood Network.

 

Workshops
Thursday, July 10, 6–9 pm
Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab
Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis
Free, but registration is required. Call 612.375.7600. 

 
Thursday, August 7, 6–9 pm
Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab
Walker Art Center
Free, but registration is required. Call 612.375.7600. 
 
Saturday, August 16, 10 am
Minnesota Television Network 
125 SE Main St. #244, Minneapolis, MN 55414 
Contact: John Akre, 612.331.8575  

Submission Process
 
Post entries on YouTube tagged with “iapprovethismessage2008.”
 
Walker Art Center and The UpTake volunteers and staff will screen submissions for quality and adherence to guidelines. A selection will be featured on The UnConvention Web site (theunconvention.com), and selected videos will be screened at the Walker Art Center and other Twin Cities venues.

Guidelines/Disclaimer 

Length: Maximum 2 minutes.
 
Videos should be thoughtful, creative, and family-friendly and avoid hateful and defamatory language or images. Videos may address political issues and candidates, but cannot explicitly endorse or support a specific candidate or political party. The review panel values non-partisan participation and reserves the right to reject entries that are unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable. The panel reserves the right to reject videos that don’t meet these qualifications.

The UnConvention
The UnConvention is a non-partisan collective of citizens and cultural institutions assembled to create a forum in which to promote the democratic and free exchange of ideas during and after the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, from September 1–4, 2008.
 
It exists as a counterpoint to the highly scripted and predetermined nature of the contemporary presidential nomination process and convention. The mission of The UnConvention (theunconvention.com) is:
 
• To umbrella the myriad artistic and educational activities (exhibitions, lectures, performances, etc.) that will take place in the Twin Cities during the lead-up and staging of the 2008 Republican National
Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.
 
• To host the alternative media that will converge on the Twin Cities during the Republican National Convention.
 
For more information on I Approve this Message, go to (theunconvention.com/iapprove) or contact Allison Herrera, 612.375.7548.
 
 
Walker Art Center programming is made possible by its Premier Partners: Best Buy, General Mills, Piper Jaffray, Target, Star Tribune, and WCCO-TV.
 
The Walker Art Center is located at 1750 Hennepin Avenue—where Hennepin meets Lyndale—one block off Highways I-94 and I-394, in Minneapolis.
 
For public information, call 612.375.7600, or visit walkerart.org.